This relates to the digital transformation, enhancement, and editing of personal and professional videos.
Millions of video cameras and computer and photo devices that record video are sold worldwide each year in both the professional and consumer markets. In the professional video production sphere, billions of dollars and significant time resources are spent editing video—taking raw footage shot with these cameras and devices, loading it into manual video editing software platforms, reviewing the footage to find the most compelling portions, and assembling the compelling portions in a fashion that communicates or illustrates the requisite message or story in a focused, engaging way, while adding professional footage transitions, soundtrack layers, and effects to enhance the resultant video.
With all the time, money, and expertise necessary to edit video to a professional level or compelling presentation level, the video editing process can be a daunting task for the average consumer. Even for the video editing professional, high quality video production workflow can take 30× the resultant video time. For example, a finished two-minute video typically takes 75 minutes to edit using traditional manual video editing software. Beyond the significant time investment, the video editing software technical skill necessary and the advanced shot sequencing, enhancing, and combining expertise are skills that the average consumer does not have and that the professional producer acquires at great cost.
For these reasons, the average consumer typically does not have the resources to transform the raw footage he or she films into professional grade video presentations, often instead settling for overly long collections of un-edited video clips that are dull to watch due to their rambling, aimless nature in aggregate. In the alternative, the consumer might hire a professional video editor for events such as weddings, birthdays, family sports events, etc. and spend significant funds to do so. Accordingly, there is a need for methods and apparatus that can transform the process of creating videos through automation of the creation, enhancement, and editing of audiovisuals, using machines that are easy to use, configure, and/or adapt. Such machines would increase the effectiveness, efficiency and user satisfaction with producing polished, enhanced video content, thereby opening up the proven, powerful communication and documentation power of professionally edited video to a much wider group of business and personal applications.